Branching Out
En EspañolCould twins Jazmin and Lizbeth Lopez make
it at top-ranked colleges more than 3,000 miles apart? Of course, they
could. The real story was how they made it there in the first place.

By Mark Kendall

On a breezy, tourist-brochure day in California’s wine country,
twin sisters Jazmin and Lizbeth Lopez sat side by side waiting to
graduate as the top two students in Napa High’s Class of 2005. This was
a moment of triumph, but Jazmin was so nervous she couldn’t even listen
to the speeches. She feared she was going to get kicked out.

Jazmin and Lizbeth Lopez hold the signs
they displayed during graduation from
Napa High.
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The twins had decided to make a statement during the ceremony. As Jazmin
crossed the stage to accept her diploma, she unfolded a black-and-white
banner reading Orgullo Latino—“Latino Pride.” Lizbeth followed
right behind with a Mexican flag. This sort of thing didn’t come
naturally to the shy teens, but they did it anyway, and Jazmin even
added a little flourish—blowing a kiss to the crowd. It was only the
latest surprise from the once-predictable pair.

The inseparable siblings were known simply as “the twins” or “the Lopez
sisters” to many at Napa High. Along with taking most of the same
classes, they served as co-presidents of the Hispanic Club, studied side
by side after school and cleaned homes together on the weekends to help
with their family’s finances. They tied for the highest GPA—4.67—in a
class of more than 500 students, and became co-winners of the school’s
highest honor—the “Indian of the Year” award. To no one’s surprise, they
were accepted at every college they applied to: Berkeley, Dartmouth,
Stanford and others. Jazmin and Lizbeth easily could have gone off to
school together, as many twins do.

No way, the sisters decided. In fact, the fraternal twins who had shared
a bedroom their entire lives wound up choosing colleges about as far
apart as you can get in the continental United States. Jazmin picked
Pomona; Lizbeth chose Bowdoin College in Maine.

Could they make it on their own? There was little doubt. Jazmin and
Lizbeth’s story is about more than the drama of going off to college and
leaving behind a twin sister. The sisters went through transformations
before college that set them on a different course—and set them apart
from the typical first-year students. These two weren’t going to come
home for the holidays and freak out their parents with idealistic,
change-the-world talk. They already had done that years ago.

Back to graduation: Despite their fears, Jazmin and Lizbeth’s on-stage
statements of ethnic pride passed with little reaction. The ceremony in
the high school football stadium was as California-casual as they come,
with students stepping down from the stage to a line of welcoming
teachers—some clad in shorts and floral shirts—offering hugs and
handshakes to the graduates. When the twins arrived at the line, the
affection was so strong that some teachers joked that they were creating
a bottleneck.

“I wouldn’t be surprised at anything they decide to do—politics, law,
service,” said their ninth-grade English teacher Hilary Zunin. “Wherever
they go, people are going to just say, ‘wow.’’’
After the ceremony, the girls skipped the grad night event planned by
the school—it cost 50 bucks!—and headed home to celebrate with friends
and family at a backyard barbecue shaded by an expansive grapefruit
tree. Ranchera music played as they feasted on arranchera, grilled flank
steak seasoned with cilantro, and nopales, a cactus dish. Dad worked the
old-school charcoal barbecue. Hugging the girls, mom gave a brief,
heartfelt speech in Spanish: “Thanks for everything, for all your hard
work,” she said, with tears in her eyes. “I’m going to miss you.”
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